1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a broadcast receiving apparatus that blocks a broadcast content by using a plurality of broadcast content blocking standards.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, with respect to a broadcast receiving apparatus such as a television receiver and the like, various kinds of rating systems to block a broadcast content that may provide harmful effects to an audience have been known. In the rating system, rating data, which rates the broadcast content in accordance with details of the broadcast content, age of the audience or a combination thereof, is sent to the broadcast receiving apparatus by superimposing the rating data on broadcast content data. Accordingly, at the receiving side, the broadcast content is blocked in accordance with a broadcast content blocking level which is set beforehand, and the rating data which is received with the broadcast content data.
For example, according to a broadcast content blocking apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication (Laid open) No. 2004-187328, it is determined whether the rating data which is transmitted with the broadcast content is higher than the broadcast content blocking level or not. In a case where it is determined that the rating data is higher than the broadcast content blocking level, channel information of a channel that broadcasts a broadcast content having the rating data is deleted from a broadcast station selecting map. Therefore, the broadcast content can be blocked by just setting the broadcast content blocking level.
Further for example, a method and an apparatus for setting up rating limits with respect to a parental control system, which are disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication (Laid open) No. 2005-514818, simply a process of setting up rating limits by providing a user with concrete examples of contents that he or she may want to allow or block, thus eliminating errors caused by the abstractness of the ratings.
Japanese Patent Application Publication (Laid open) No. 2005-354497 discloses an access controlling apparatus that allows access control by taking meaning details of a broadcast content into consideration, for each scene of the broadcast content. Japanese Patent Application Publication (Laid open) No. 2005-115928 discloses a technique of parental control which allows readily setting of access maximum level by using a controller such as a slider.
However, with respect to the rating systems mentioned above, a plurality of broadcast content blocking standards that are different from each other are used in accordance with a country where the content is broadcasted, a broadcast station, type of the broadcast content, and the like. Therefore, a broadcast receiving apparatus which can block a broadcast content in accordance with a plurality of broadcast content blocking standards requires setting of broadcast content blocking level for each of the broadcast content blocking standards. This leads to a problem that burden of a user becomes heavy.
A method to set a broadcast content blocking level for a conventional broadcast receiving apparatus which can block broadcast content in accordance with a plurality of broadcast content blocking standards will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 7A through 7C. FIGS. 7A through 7C are examples of setting screens to set the broadcast content blocking level, in accordance with the plurality of broadcast content blocking standards, for the conventional broadcast receiving apparatus. FIG. 7A is a setting screen of a broadcast content blocking level with respect to Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) Rating, FIG. 7B is a setting screen of a broadcast content blocking level with respect to TV Parental Guidelines, and FIG. 7C is a setting screen of a broadcast content blocking level with respect to Canadian English Language Rating and a broadcast content blocking level with respect to Canadian French Language Rating. As shown in FIGS. 7A through 7C, in order to block broadcast content in accordance with a plurality of broadcast content blocking standards, setting of the broadcast content blocking level had to be made individually for each of the broadcast content blocking standards.